Eliminate the utility tax It has come to my attention that at the Dec. 4, City Council meeting, members will be having a vote on eliminating the utility tax.

This tax was originally implemented to cover a shortfall in the city's revenue. After the first year, we had already caught up enough to not need it in the city's budget anymore. Well, instead of eliminating it, as was originally planned, it was continued at a reduced 3 percent - still a tax of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars on the citizens and businesses of Liberty Lake.

Unfortunately, now there is a push to use it for other purposes. Even though some of the purposes may be valid, it is a type of slush fund that may never go away; there will always be another project. It is a large expense that we do not need to have on our budgets, and especially in this economy there is no need to pursue non-essential city projects.

Please contact the City Council and mayor this week about keeping to their original plan to eliminate the utility tax.

Brandon HuntHuntwood Custom CabinetsLiberty Lake

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SCRAPS important to LLI sincerely hope Mayor Steve Peterson gets in touch with his feminine side soon and starts exercising some sorely needed tact and diplomacy, or he may find himself in the politically awkward position of insulting and alienating all the service providers Liberty Lake depends on - and many Liberty Lake residents in the process.

Is the Liberty Lake community really so poor that we can no longer afford decent care for helpless animals? Do the residents of Liberty Lake really want to pick up stray dogs and cats like before we had SCRAPS service?

Nancy Hill and the SCRAPS staff have been providing our community exceptional service at a very reasonable cost. Nancy should be recognized for a job well done. Instead, she has been browbeat by Mayor Peterson and raked over the coals with impossible demands to reduce costs even further. We need to stay with SCRAPS and stop all this nonsense before we lose the wonderful synergy and spirit of compassion that makes Liberty Lake so very special.